Rotary: Making a Difference Page 1

What’s happening at Ascot:

Melbourne Cup Sweeps –The following lucky punters picked up wins last week: Sweep 1 – 1st Donna Stephenson - $70 2nd Michael Bermann - $30 3rd Jill Courtland - $15 and a Scratchy to Roma Gehringer Sweep 2 – 1st Michelle Kendall - $70 2nd Roma Gehringer - $30 3rd President Ron Alexander - $15 and a Scratchy to Di Reed

Thanks Gren for running our Ascot Sweeps once again this year.

BOARD MEMBERS 2017-18 President: Ron Alexander Vice Pres.: Mike Bermann Pres. Elect: Aidan Wood Secretary: Roma Gehringer Treasurer: Joanna Kendall Foundation: Hugh Langridge Exec Secretary: Hugh Langridge Membership: Michael Evans Club Service: Peter Richardson International: Mike Bermann Youth: Marg Fraser Vocational: Max Morrell Community: Stephen Kendall Public Relations: Christine Goss Attendance: Gren Courtland

WEB LINKS:

Club website: www.ascotrotary.org.au Club Facebook page: www.facebook.com/AscotRotary Bricktober website: www.bricktober.info Bricktober Facebook: www.facebook.com/Bricktober.Perth District 9465: http://rotary9465.org.au Rotary International: https://www.rotary.org

Chartered 26 February 1969 District 9465

We meet at Belmont Tavern 174 Wright Street, Cloverdale, Western Australia, 6105

On Tuesday’s at 7:00 am for 7:30 am start and finished by 8:30 am.

Christmas Food Hampers – Please

start bringing in items of food suitable

for inclusion in our Xmas Hampers

which will be donated to Starick for

needy families in our community. Our

Christmas Party is just 5 weeks away

so … don’t delay – do it today!

Rotary: Making a Difference Page 2

Gren Courtland A little bit of Family History

Just six years after the establishment of the Swan

River Colony, Gren’s great-grand mother, Mary Lucille

Burrows, was born near Perth’s Victoria Square, to

Rachel Burrows, a needlewomen, companion and

nursery governess to Lady Stirling. Mary was fathered

by Charles Ross Rossmore Norcott who was the

Superintendent of the first Mounted Police Force and

was credited with saving Governor Stirling’s life at the

battle for Pinjarra in which his predecessor was killed.

However, he died of typhus just months after Mary’s

birth having returned to England to collect an

inheritance.

Mary carried her mother’s name and was brought up in the care of the wife of Captain Boyd who lived on the

Helena River at Guildford and who had come to the Colony in 1832 with Mary’s mother. Mary went on to

became one of the first students of the pioneer Sisters of Mercy, led by Sister Ursula Frayne who set up a

school in Victoria Square, using packing cases as desks, and which became the first secondary school for girls in

Australia and is now Mercedes College, the oldest independent Catholic girls' school in Australia.

At the age of just 14 and some months, Mary was considered sufficiently qualified

to take over the Fremantle Catholic School and was paid £50 per annum. It grew

from 12 girls in 1850 to 52 boys and girls in 1853 shortly before she officially gave

up teaching and married Joseph Thomas Reilly.

Joseph came to Perth in 1851 at the age of 15 with his parents and started his

working life in the printing house of Edmund Stirling which published “The Inquirer”,

then later the “Perth Gazette” which later became “The West Australian”. He went on

to become not only a newspaperman, founding papers like the “Northam Advertiser”,

“Southern Cross Herald” and “The Record”, but a businessman who bred horses for

the English Army in India, shipped jarrah sleepers to England for the London

underground and sandalwood to Japan.

Gren told us he wrote his memoirs in 1903 titled “Reminiscences - Fifty Years – Western Australia” and in it

gives an amazing account of the trials and difficulties experienced in the early life and settlement of Western

Australia to its rise to solid prosperity. The book is now highly sought after and valued at more than US$600.

I found an ad for it from 1905, when it sold for 5s 6d, (about $40 today) which in part read “As a record of facts

and figures “Reminiscences of Fifty Years Western Australia" may be regarded as invaluable, and should,

therefore be in the hands of every person desirous of becoming

acquainted with the early history of Western Australia.”

As their youngest daughter Kathleen Lucille married

Charles Courtland in Northam in 1897 it is no doubt

a treasured heirloom of Courtland family who now want Gren

to add his own memoirs. And today we thanked Gren for sharing

some of his rich and interesting family history with us.

Rotary: Making a Difference Page 3

Please note the following dates and advise Christine Goss of details of your Guest Speaker and Topic

or advise promptly if the dates are unsuitable.

Date Welcoming Informer Host Chair Speaker and Topic

21 November 2017

Stephen Kendall

Mike Bermann Colin Peacock Europe and Israel

28 November 2017

Colin Peacock Peter Richardson

Aidan Wood Recent trip to Vietnam

5 December 2017

Mike Bermann Hugh Langridge

Tba

12 December 2017

Aidan Wood Jeff Stephenson

Michael Evans Hamper Packing

19 December 2017

Michelle Kendall

Peter Richardson Christmas Party Special Guest

9 January 2018

Ros McLernon Michael Evans

Bev Poor

16 January 2018

NO BREAKFAST MEETING

Instead an evening at Handicamp

Handicamp Dinner Point Walter Recreation Centre

23 January 2018

Glenys Godfrey Joanna Kendall

Roma Gehringer

30 January 2018 NO BREAKFAST MEETING

SOCIAL MEETING VENUE TBA

31 December 2017 Last day for “early bird” 9465 Conference Registrations

14-20 January 2018 International Assembly – San Diego, California, USA

31 January 2018 Last day for “early bird” AGFR Golf Tournament Murray Bridge

23 February 2018 “Wear your Rotary Club Shirt” Day

16 - 18 March 2018 2017/2018 District Conference - Quality Inn, Margaret River

24-27 June 2018 Rotary International Convention, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

MEMBERS IN FOCUS

BIRTHDAYS: Donna Stephenson 2 November Marlene Poole 10 November Alan Thomson 30 November

The Great Reveal!

Next Week

Prizes $30 for 10 weeks

and $300 for 11th week

While Peter has been recovering

from his recent bout of pneumonia,

he’s been keeping note of the

Powerball’s and will reveal all the

lucky winners next week!

Rotary: Making a Difference Page 4

16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM AGAINST

GENDER VIOLENCE

25th November - 10th December

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is a

global campaign to raise awareness about violence

against women and its impact on a woman’s physical,

psychological, social and spiritual well-being. Human

rights cannot be universal without human rights for

women.

The 16 Days of Activism begins on 25th November on

International Day for the Elimination of Violence

Against Women and ends on December 10th

International Human Rights Day. These two dates

highlight that violence against women is a human

rights abuse. We invite community members and

organisations to coordinate or participate in an event

to unite in the struggle to end violence against

women.

During the 16 days, activists around the world use the

campaign to further raise awareness about the

prevalence and devastating impact of gender violence,

to celebrate victories gained by the Women’s Rights

Movement, challenge policy and practice that allow

women to be targeted for acts of violence and

demand that violence against women be recognized

as an abuse of human rights.

This year Starick is actively

supporting the campaign to build awareness of and

advocate for an end to all forms of violence, with a

focus on domestic and family violence against women

and children.

The statistics are sobering and violence is now in

epidemic proportions. Check out: https://www.starick.org.au/about-us/about-domestic-violence

and get behind them to make a difference.

40th Australian Golfing Fellowship of Rotarians

Golf Tournament 2018

Murray Bridge, South Australia

8 to 13 April 2018

Registrations now open at

http://mbagfr.org/register/

The renovations at Belmont Tavern have now

been completed but there are now no facilities for

media presentations and until we overcome this

issue, guest speakers will need to be made aware

of this and other arrangements made to

accommodate their individual requirements.

There is no projector or screen and as the area is

now very open and flooded with light, the quality

of projection may also be questionable. As a

result, speakers will continue to be kept in-club

until this is fully resolved.